Sundance Parties 2015: The 10 Hottest Invites (Video)

Despite causing agita throughout the industry for threatening not to circulate his annual “Sundance Party List” for talent, publicists and media — Chris Ryan’s encyclopedic tome is forthcoming and will be likely forwarded several times by the time you’re reading this post.

This is not that list.

Instead of a comprehensive treatise, I’ve picked the intimate, special and the unique gatherings of the creative community and people who make Sundance scene special and so broadly popular, even amongst those who never set foot in a theater.

The Main Street stalwarts are back: Tao (Friday-Sunday), Village at the Lift, the free lunch café inside Village at the Lift (again with the chefs and menu from LA’s Animal), and countless lounges inviting industry faces to “come inside and warm up with [insert name of random sponsor here]” all return.

Sarah Hyland and Jordin Sparks enjoyed a previous Delta in Hollywood special event at LAX from the Holidays. (Getty Images)

The stratification begins before you even get out of the 310.

The most clever and organic brand activation this year begins in Terminal 5 at LAX. Talent agency UTA worked with Delta to organize a special flight for filmmakers, influencers, agents, and so-called, “media-elite” to the airline’s SLC hub on Thursday morning.

The 180 handpicked fliers will fork brunch by Lemonade, enjoy expedited security, and live entertainment on-board – that’s live, not like getting to watch a sneak preview of “Z for Zachariah” on the back of your neighbor’s seat.

Who gets first class? Details to come in a later post.

(Full disclosure: I am newly minted “media-elite,” earned a seat and it is not bathroom row –middle.)

Chanel Iman on the Park City snow last Sundance. ( Jason Merritt/Getty Images for Oakley)

With a significant following of friends in town, and her partner in their former boutique Confederacy, Danny Masterson, spinning the early evening event, this is a flicker of fashion in between the flicks.

The Eddie Bauer Adventure House (in a new space this year) hosts, an offshoot from E.B.’s daytime activation with a rock climbing wall, DJ’s, lots of drinks, and lots of people hanging out around a faux indoor fire. Typical of producer/marketers BMF Media’s other footprints at Lollapalooza and Ultra in Miami, it’s a music-driven hangout space, an evolution from what would have been a ‘gift-driven celebrity photo opp space’ in the T-Mobile Sidekick era.

This will be the party before the bigger non-film parties of the night (read: Tao, pictured above).

You will by Christmas, when he joins Adam Driver, Lupita Nyong’o, and Harrison Ford in the new “Star Wars” film. Jeff Vespa, the wireimage founder and official festival photographer since 2003, tapped Boyega a year ago for “Verge,” his digital/print marker on the young talent he expects to blow up in the next year.

Jenny Slate was in the class of 2014 as well, following Jonathan Groff from HBO’s “Looking,” who led the inaugural selections in 2013.

Vespa’s intimate huddle near the Village at the Lift delivers low stress and actual connection to emerging filmmaking. Last year, after Sony Pictures Classics acquired “Whiplash” early Saturday morning after overnight negotiations, one producer of the now-awards season contender was still celebrating at Vespa’s get together fifteen hours later.

That noise you’ll be hearing coming from the corner of Main St. and Heber on Saturday night will be the party for “Dope”, a “geeks in the ‘wood” coming of age story about teens in Inglewood. Pharrell Williams produced music for the film and his company I am Other executive produces, but (update), he will not be there. After winning Sundance two years ago with “Fruitvale Station”, Forest Whitaker’s production company returns with this film, which sports A$AP Rocky’s first acting role and an appearance from Tyga.

150 people will be in side, many more outside for sure.

This will take over the Acura Studio space, an official festival partner, that will have junkets throughout the days and parties at night. Helping shuttle celebrity talent and the bold names above around, they have a fleet of 55 MDX and it is what will be arriving at your house/hotel/condo if you open your Uber app in Park City.

Eli Roth (who looks to be making his first Sundance appearance) and Keanu Reeves will celebrate there on Friday night, while Sarah Silverman will not be watching the SAG Awards when toasting “I Smile Back” there on Sunday night.

Last year, Selena Gomez sang acoustic as Bill Macy snapped photos. He had already admitted to enjoying the beverages and performed a 1-man ukulele concert to celebrate his directorial debut.

This year, don’t show up at 2 a.m. looking for Amy Sacco’s late-night pop-up of No. 8 (fka “Bungalow 8”). It’s not here and not at the festival.

The two-story space hosts film parties with people actually here for films. Nicole Kidman and “Strangerland” kick off the festival festivities here, while Friday night’s “End of Tour” party will also be hot. In that film, Jason Segal, Jesse Eisenberg, and a pair of actresses from esteemed DNA, Meryl Streep’s adult daughter Mamie Gummer and Sting and Trudie Styler’s adult daughter Mickey Sumner co-star with the “J’s”.

Kristin Wiig has two movies at Sundance and will celebrate both here as well. Cocktail parties, frosted windows, lots of cocktails, and a great balcony overlooking the street (if you’re a – choke, cough…choke – smoker) continue through Tuesday.

The night before she won an Oscar for “Blue Jasmine” last year, Cate Blanchett joined this year’s creative force Richard “Rick” Linklater at STK in West Hollywood for that incarnation of the film-focused dinner party series produced by David Manning.

STK stays the same, but now it’s in Park City with Kia coming onboard as the title sponsor (Follow #KiaSupperSuiteSTK). The lineup is heavy on the opening weekend with the aforementioned Scott film “The Overnight” dining here before their parties, as well as a dinner with Melissa Rauch (“The Bronze”) and upcoming White House Correspondents’ Dinner host Cecily Strong (of “SNL”) breaking in the dishware on Friday night.

A collection of faces from within and beyond film will break bread at the “Echoes of Hope Charity Gala Dinner” on Saturday night, luring NHL legend Luc Robitaille’s crew away from the Canyons where they previously ate in the shadow of the Stanley Cup after the Kings’ 2012 championship. Cuba Gooding Jr., Taylor Kitsch, David Boreanaz, Jason Priestly, and Michael Vartan are expected.

On Saturday, Toni Collette and “Glassland” will have places set for them as well as a joint dinner party for “The Overnight,” “Animals,” and Tangerine, with chauffeur driven Kia Sorentos shuttling the talent around town.

Kia celebrity transport is available for talent beyond these events via A-List Communications.

Sunday, January 25 will be the first Sunday since August without NFL, because the Pro Bowl hardly qualifies as a real game.

With Sundance falling one week later than normal, there are no NFL AFC and NFC Championship games to build viewing parties around. In the past, Harvey Weinstein’s intimate viewing party drew heavy from the industry, various New York nightclubs skewed younger at Main Street adjacent bashes, and for several years, ESPN threw increasingly large and lavish parties with the heaviest food, drinks, bands, and stadium-level spirit. That has gone the way of Sportscenter’s “Did You Know?”.

While not to everyone’s tastes, a coterie of ex-wrestlers are in Park City for the slamdance premiere of “The Resurrection of Jake the Snake Roberts,” a documentary. “Snake”, Diamond Dallas Page (“DDP”), and Scott Hall have invited a group of friends and fans from the festival to their Park City house to watch Sunday night’s WWE Pay-Per-View “Royal Rumble” with them.

There will be a revolving door of parties and people coming through here on Saturday night, from Kevin Bacon, Ethan Hawke, and Emile Hirsch, to Hailee Steinfeld, Emily Mortimer, and Michael Shannon. They’re calling it the Sabra Hummus House Independent Filmmaker Salon, and NYC based Darin Pfeiffer is programming the upstairs part of this space. (The downstairs, where 50 Cent and One Republic threw parties in previous years is an unaffiliated event.)

The night before the casts from “Ten Thousand Saints,” “Cop Car”, and “99 Homes” come through, as listed above, the producing team behind former Sundance breakout “Martha Marcy May Marlene” (pictured above) will host a non-film related get together for filmmaker friends.

Get ready for this. The scene outside the Claim Jumper. (Getty Images)

The massive Claim Jumper space has morphed over the years, from Bing Bar to the home of CAA’s party to sitting empty.

Now the Sundance Institute has taken over, making it an official venue. While the top floors will house the institute’s New Frontier virtual reality technology and art exhibits, Chase, an official festival sponsor, will use the ground floor socially.

The Scotts are keeping it local, with a second film, “Sleeping With Other People” from “Bachelorette” director Leslye Headland co-starring Jason Sudeikis that will spread out in one of the top event spaces on Main Street.

Free Stuff and SwagVarious Suites, Opening Weekend

The closest you will get to the country of Aruba from within Utah. (Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

Free trips to Aruba at Kari Feinstein’s Style Lounge, free skincare treatments by Caudalie (for men and women) at the Birchbox pop-up (427 Main St.), free trips to Cancun at the EcoLuxe Lounge (inside Cisero’s, 306 Main St.), free Stella Artois (that’s beer!) every single day from 3-5 p.m., and gasp, open to the public at the corner of Heber and Main (the Acura Studio), and finally, free fitness at Sundance (a huge gaping hole in the swag-a-teria lineup for years and years): Pure Barre is throwing 4 free classes a day at 427 Main St. on opening weekend.

Other notable swag: Amateur reality TV filmmaking equipment in the form of wireless home security systems (Arlo) and Innergie cell phone battery chargers (a festival necessity), both also at the longest running gifting suite in the game, Kari Feinstein’s.

All events are private and by invitation only.

For real time Sundance party coverage, follow @SundanceParties on both Instagram and Twitter.

TheWrap’s Party Report at Sundance is presented by the all-new Kia Sorento.

Sundance Snapshots: 50 of TheWrap Party Report's Brushes With the Stars (Photos)

William H. Macy’s directorial debut “Rudderless” produced the best “only at Sundance” moment of the year on Monday night. First, producer Keith Kjarval got the crowd chanting “Macy, Macy, Macy” upstairs in the intimate Grey Goose space. The director obliged, fixing his broken ukulele and singing two songs. “I am way too drunk to do this,” he said before playing a comical x-rated tune he said he wrote for “Shameless” and then a cover of “Surfer Girl”.

Just before 1:00 a.m., Selena Gomez, who has a small role in “Rudderless,” answered the producer’s call to take the stage. She sang an unrehearsed duet of her#1 hit “Come and Get It.” Guests were climbing the walls to get a view.

Check out Macy snapping pictures in the small room, as even Gomez’s security cracked a smile for the first time all day. “I will remember this night for the rest of my life,” Macy said.

That huge crowd behind the Marriott on Monday afternoon was Lindsay Lohan, her OWN reality camera crew, and Randall Emmett coming to announce a film Lohan's starring in and producing: "Inconceivable". The producing partners took over the Incubator Family Social Film Loft.

Main Street was much quieter by Monday afternoon. "Time to get out of dodge," one totally over-it marketing executive said as she saw me taking this photo.

Anne Hathaway and husband Josh Shulman turned up at Harvey Weinstein's industry-heavyweights-only NFL viewing party huddle on Sunday. Weinstein moved the party from the Stein Ericksen to the Waldorf Astoria's Resort in Park City this year, behind heavy security.

Jason Mamoa let it slide when the top of my head accidentally head-butted the bottom of his chin at Tao on Saturday night. (He's tall, I'm not.) He was still with good cheer with Geoff Stults at Brownie Brittle's NFL game watching party at Rock & Reilly's on Sunday.

Anna Kendrick and Joe Swanberg toast “Happy Christmas”, one of Sunday night’s installments in the Next Generation Filmmaker Series.

Alison Pill at “Happy Christmas” with the man celebrating the 15-year anniversary of being “the thing” at the festival: Joshua Leonard. Leonard starred in “The Blair Witch Project,” which took the festival by storm in 1999.

Molly Shannon and John C. Reilly, back together on-screen in festival comedy "Life After Beth," hit the annual Sunday night celebrity MPIC poker tournament at the Sundance HQ.

"We got 3 million from Sony," "Whiplash" producer Gary Michael Walters told me at Jeff Vespa's "Verge" party on Saturday night. While the paperwork wasn't done, he says they shook on it at 4 a.m. Friday night. Walters was with a beer and two models.

"Hellion's" Josh Wiggins with Jeff Vespa. Wiggins is one of the WireImage founder's top seven picks to have a breakout year in 2014.

Kate Hudson and Zach Braff at the "Wish I Was Here" premiere. Victorinox geared up the director for his trip to the mountains.

Afterwards, Ashley Greene, Josh Gad, and "Scrubs-mates" Braff and Donald Faison toast the film at the Grey Goose Blue Door space, which would later become Bungalow 8 on Saturday night.

Boyd Holbrook and Elizabeth Olsen at the party for "Skeleton Twins" in another timeslot at Grey Goose.

Maria Tomei and Luke Wilson at CAA's bash on Saturday night. The agency moved locations this year, going to a mansion in Deer Valley far from last year's Main Street location.

"The Sundance List" guy Christopher Ryan fields a call from Paradigm on Friday afternoon and sets up a last minute party that night.

A trend at Sundance this year: indoor faux fireplaces. This one is at the Eddie Bauer Adventure House, where there was a rock climbing wall and a mountain of Patron.

KTLA's Sam Rubin came in right from the Critics Choice Awards and hit the Eco Hideaway. (He's a founding member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association.) "The fear that we had was 'Oh gosh, if they don't get nominated, they're not going to come.' They all came. Oprah was there."

Sundance fixture Dingo, a professional snowboarder, teaches model Chanel Iman how not to ruin her career via a wipeout as part of Oakley's Learn to Ride.

Ireland Baldwin already knows how to ride.

Stella models are standing on the street, inviting people in to a public beer garden.

"It is illegal to hail a taxi cab in the state of Utah." Looking at Main Street for 10 seconds, I can tell you this law is not being enforced. The word on the Uber invasion is that the prices are very expensive. Anecdotally, I've heard sticker shock from the post-trip emails people are getting.

Every outlet is a festival of wires. People are getting creative looking for a place to plug in their phones.

The scene outside Tao. As one friend from L.A. said, "This is 250 people who never wait in line, all waiting in line at the same time." True.

These people are happier.

DJ Vice opened his set at TAO on Saturday night with a live rendition of his hit with Lil Jon "Turn Down for What." Both of these guys are on the same team as "SKAM Artists," meaning they're managed by Sujit Kundu

You expect to see this. The same Moet golden chalices from the Golden Globes made their way to Park City for a blizzard of the special Moët & Chandon Nectar Impérial Rosé.

I did not expect to see this. They were serving McDonald's fries and nuggets inside Tao.

Nicholas Hoult chatted with a friend at TAO. One of the crazy rumors flying around Saturday night was that his rumored girlfriend, Jennifer Lawrence, was flying in after "American Hustle" won the top SAG prize.

William H. Macy and his "Rudderless" producer Keith Kjarval inside the TAO carnival.

The Coachella Effect: Days after announcing that "Outkast" would headline this year's festival, Big Boi is in demand. He sang "Ms. Jackson" at Tao on Saturday night and has been popping up on carpets all around town. A dude-bro recording on his iPhone next to me says he saw him six months ago in Santa Ana for a tiny crowd.

Case in point: Big Boi at HBO and the Blackhouse Foundation's "Game of Thrones" party on Saturday night.

Not playing Coachella: Lance Bass. He grabbed a bite at Sabra's Grab 'n' Go Cafe at the Village at the Lift.

Ken Sunshine hit the ONE Group and Gansevoort Hotel's annual Friday night dance party. It was in the Rock & Reilly's space, which has come online this year as a regular destination.

One is the loneliest number for Alan Thicke. It's appropriate at the "One" Group's party (the group that owns STK, Tenjune, Bagatelle). His son Robin is the family star now.

Jesse Eisenberg and Richard Ayoade post up at a get together for "The Double," part of the Next Generation Filmmaker Series.

"God's Pocket" co-stars Philip Seymour Hoffman and Christina Hendricks had an upstairs dinner and downstairs drinks after the Brooks Brothers hosted premiere. "Mad Men's" John Slattery is the director.

John Lithgow and George Takei catch some face time at McDonald's McCafe lounge.

Capital Cities were amongst the guests at Billboard's interview suite inside Park City Live, before they played the pop up version of the Sayers Club.

Golden Globe winner Alex Ebert (who knocked off John Williams and Hans Zimemr) is now a “name”. He popped up in a gifting suite.

The SoulPancake founder (Rainn Wilson) gets pancaked by Hello’s (the breath spray, not the magazine) Craig Dubitsky and Wilson's own wife, Holiday Reinhorn, during a dinner for “Cooties”.

Rose McGowan and Davey Detail at STK’s Supper Suite.

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Mikey Glazer hits the scene for the film festival’s buzziest premieres and parties in Park City

William H. Macy’s directorial debut “Rudderless” produced the best “only at Sundance” moment of the year on Monday night. First, producer Keith Kjarval got the crowd chanting “Macy, Macy, Macy” upstairs in the intimate Grey Goose space. The director obliged, fixing his broken ukulele and singing two songs. “I am way too drunk to do this,” he said before playing a comical x-rated tune he said he wrote for “Shameless” and then a cover of “Surfer Girl”.